M.R. James: The Complete Ghost Stories Collection

By: M. R. James

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

The ghost stories of M.R. James are a masterclass in crafting suspense and psychological horror and are justly celebrated for their eerie atmosphere and chilling supernatural encounters. James redefined the genre by replacing many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors with more realistic contemporary settings, and pioneered the "antiquarian ghost story," where ancient manuscripts, relics, or artifacts unleash malevolent forces (Casting the Runes, The Mezzotint). This full and unabridged collection contains the five volumes of ghost stories James published in his lifetime, superbly read by award-winning narrator Jonathan Keeble.

The titles included in this collection, in order of appearance, are:

• 'Canon Alberics Scrap-Book'
• 'Lost Hearts'
• 'The Mezzotint'
• 'The Ash-Tree'
• 'Number 13'
• 'Count Magnus'
• 'Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'
• 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas'
• 'A School Story'
• 'The Rose Garden'
• 'The Tractate Middoth'
• 'Casting the Runes'
• 'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral'
• 'Martin's Close'
• 'Mr Humphrys and His Inheritance'
• 'The Residence at Whitminister'
• 'The Diary of Mr Poynter'
• 'An Episode of Cathedral History'
• 'The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance'
• 'Two Doctors'
• 'An Evening's Entertainment'
• 'A Warning to the Curious'
• 'A View from a Hill'
• 'A Neighbour's Landmark'
• 'The Uncommon Prayer-Book'
• 'The Haunted Dolls' House'
• 'Wailing Well'
• 'There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard'
• 'Rats'
• 'After Dark in the Playing Fields'
• 'The Experiment'
• 'The Malice of Inanimate Objects'
• 'A Vignette'
• 'The Fenstanton Witch'
• 'Appendix'

Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936) was a distinguished English medievalist scholar and academic, serving as Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and later Eton College. His ghost stories, widely regarded as the finest in the English language, have been widely influential on modern horror and many - including Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come For You, My Lad, The Tractate Middoth, A View from a Hill and Casting the Runes (aka Night of the Demon) - have been adapted for the screen.

This audiobook is fully indexed. Once downloaded, each book and chapter will be listed so you can easily navigate to the individual sections.

Public Domain (P)2021 SNR Audio

Classic Ghost Stories without the Gore

Classic ghost stories that are told by an excellent narrator. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys such things without all the gore and sadism that contemporary authors may go into.

Best complete reading of M.R James stories

This is an incredible performance.
Only Sir Michael Horden's reading could equal them.
Truly Outstanding!!

Great literature & great narration! ( It doesn’t get any better! )

M. R. James is one of the true pillars of the horror literature world. The last chapter in this audiobook is his critique on using the ghost stories in his time. It’s so interesting listening to it knowing how important he himself would become to that same literary genre. Many comments have been made about how M. R. James influenced generations of horror writers work, especially H. P. Lovecraft’s. Everyone in the arts steals from the generation before them when creating their own art. Here, it was surprising to see how much of M. R. James showed up in Lovecraft’s work. H. P. is still masterful no doubt, but perhaps not as unique as I originally thought. I also found direct reenactments of James work in my favorite scenes from Hammer films from the seventies. Listening to this audio book is an incredible experience, I’ve listened to it nearly four times now, and I’m still discovering new things to enjoy. One of the best audiobooks I’ve heard!

Great stores read by the BEST narrator in the biz

I have listened to MANY audiobooks in several genres. The narrator of this book is hands down, beyond doubt, absolutely THE BEST narrator I’ve ever heard! I wasn’t familiar with his name before buying this book. Clearly this man is theater trained. An absolute professional. The stories themselves are excellently written. Yes, the stories are a bit dated being from the Victorian Era. That said, they are interesting and quite a few are rather disturbing. One story, that spoke of giant spiders, was well written and very well read and it creeped me out quite a bit. If you enjoy mysterious ghost stories and tales of unknown terrors, you’ll like this book a lot. The old language used will stimulate and feed your intelligence. This whole book is such a treat! They could not have found a better narrator if they’d tried.

Master Storyteller

M.R. James has the perfect formula of plausibility, discretion, erudition, suspense, and climactic endings. After delving into many classic horror authors, I have found very few as consistent in quality as James. It is nice to have the option of listening to one story at a time or binging through it. Narration was excellent.